Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini appears to have had enough of title rivals getting their excuses in early. Photograph: Alex Livesey/Getty Images

Manuel Pellegrini has had enough of Manchester City's title rivals getting their excuses in early, and praised Arsène Wenger for being honest enough to keep repeating that Arsenal can still mount a challenge.

José Mourinho is fond of saying Chelsea's chance has gone, while Brendan Rodgers is attempting to have everyone believe Liverpool would regard anything in addition to a Champions League place as a bonus, but the City manager is having none of it. "Big teams near the top of the table are all under pressure," he said. "I don't know why managers say otherwise because I don't think it's true. Maybe they are covering themselves in case they don't win the title, but the reality is that at a big club you work under pressure every week. This whole profession is about pressure and how to handle itMaybe if you are 10 points off the top of the table with nothing left to play for there is no pressure, but that is not the situation here.

"Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City can all still win the league, and Arsenal are not mathematically out of it yet, so Arsène is right to keep hoping. When you are just one or two points off the top of the table you have a chance of winning the title, so you need results. That is life for big teams. José knows perfectly well that if we draw with Liverpool the door will open for Chelsea again, and not just a little.

"Chelsea are two points behind Liverpool and they still have to play Liverpool, so I think they have a lot of chances to win. Chelsea could draw with Liverpool, and that would be a good result for us. But there are at least three teams going for this title still, and we are all under the same pressure."